A Ride On A Steam Locomotive

SL Banetsu Monogatari-go is a special express train that runs on a 126-kilometer track from Niigata to Aizuwakamatsu in Fukushima and vice versa. This steam locomotive is a C57-180 type train that was in service from 1946 to 1969.The train made a comeback on Apr 19, 1999 celebrating its 10th year anniversary this year.

This trip of ours was covered by JR East Pass too and we used this journey for our second day of our 3-day pass.

Passengers can enjoy the magnificent scenery from the large windows in the observation car. The seats here were hugely popular so you had to rush to get one.

At one of the stops. There were 9 stops made from Aizu Wakamatsu to Niigata station but only two that were long enough to allow passengers to go down and take photos around the station.

Letters sent from this train will be mailed in the original issue postmark. We sent a postcard we got as a gift from the shop to our home. Another unique souvenir for us. A train postmarked postcard!

The journey was kept lively in between the stops with passengers playing jan-ken (rock, paper, scissors) with the train staff to win train goodies such as keychains, straps, magnets and stickers. It was great fun participating but we didn't win anything.

It was interesting to note that the interior of the train and the uniform of the crew were designed in a style unique to the Taisho era which is also the period when the Banetsu line was opened.

The seats inside the train. Four seats faced each other in all cars so it was pretty comfortable for a family to sit and enjoy the scenery together during the trip. However, we were unlucky enough (because we reserved our seats quite late compared to the others) to be sharing our facing seats with a particularly fat, perspiring guy on this leg of our journey.

I don't know what was his reason for taking this rather slow train from Aizuwakamatsu to Niigata because it sure looks like he wasn't taking it for the love of the train or the scenery. What he did were mostly sleep (so soundly that he snored) and eat and took up 3/4 of the seat. But we didn't let it spoil our trip, but rather it made the trip quite amusing for us.

The overall journey was simply an awesome one despite us sharing seats with the guy. The SL Banetsu Monogatari-go follows the Agano river through the densely forested mountains and the scenery was fantastic. If you are travelling from Aizuwakamatsu on this train, make sure you are seated on the left side of the train. More scenic views from that side. And along the way, you get see locals waving at you and the train and also quite a number of photographers waiting to get the perfect shot of this train. You can wave back and stick out your head because the windows in this train can be opened. We didn't open ours because it'll interrupt our seat mate's deep slumber. *^-^*

The train only runs on weekends and holidays so if want to take a trip on this train, please take note of the schedule here.